


Passing By

by Missy



Category: Little Women (1994)
Genre: Courtship, Creating Stories, F/M, Mid-Canon, Missing Scene, People Watching, Romance, flirtation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:41:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21889852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: Jo watches people.  Friedrich helps.
Relationships: Friedrich Bhaer/Josephine March
Comments: 7
Kudos: 35
Collections: Yuletide Madness 2019





	Passing By

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OzQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OzQueen/gifts).



Jo tapped her quill against the piece of paper she’d been starting at for a good fifteen minutes. Three taps. Then four.

With a frustrated grunt, she stood up and pushed away from her writing desk. A little pacing told her that the only way she’d be able to clear her head was to get out of the boarding house and let the cool crisp air of the evening clear her mind and lungs.

Getting out of the cozy homestead in the middle of the night was hard work. Everyone kept their own hours but one didn’t want to awaken slumbering people. Sometimes she could hear Friedrich playing his violin, softly and smoothly, in the middle of the night, and let it lull her to sleep. 

She bundled up, then headed out the front door, a key in her clutched fist. Measurably feeling better with every single step, Jo didn’t stop moving until she found a peaceful bench near Herald Square.

Even at midnight, it bustled. She watched men walk by in crowds, elbowing each other and laughing as they stumbled out of bars. Young women leaving their nursing shifts, looking careworn and tired. Even a woman walking her wailing child, looking rather like she was ready to drop. Ideas began to bloom to life. She made a mental sketch of the faces, the 

“Miss March,” said a voice from nearby. It was Friedrich, coming out of one of those pubs. He looked a bit guilty, and she had to wonder why. 

“What are you doing out this late?” Jo asked.

“A friend asked me to dinner. It was a rather late evening.” He raised an eyebrow. “And you?”

“I couldn’t write. So I’ve been observing others in the gaslights.”

“Ah,” he said, sitting down beside her. “And who have you seen/”

She described them – the young mothers. The nurses. The drunk men.

He asked her, “what would happen, should the nurses meet the drunk men?”

Jo’s eyes lit up. Her fingers itched for a quill pen. “I believe I’ve been freed.”

He smiled. “I’m happy to have inspired you, Miss March. May I walk you to the boardinghouse?”

“Yes, please,” she said.

They were respectfully together, a slight distance between them, but the warmth between them was growing.


End file.
